Contents

Rasmussen was born to a working-class family in Esbjerg in 1943. His parents were Oluf Nyrup Rasmussen and Vera Eline Nyrup Rasmussen. He was educated at the University of Copenhagen, earning a M.sc. degree in Economics in 1971. While studying he was active in the social democratic student union Frit Forum, where he met some of his future political colleagues. He paid his way through university by doing several jobs, like counting traffic and being a part-time delivery boy.

Rasmussen replaced Svend Auken, the long serving leader of the Social Democrats, after his failure to form a government with the Radikale Venstre after the 1990 election, despite good results for both parties. Many in the party felt that Auken had stuck to a too left wing agenda, scuttling a possible deal with the more centrist Radikale Venstre.

Rasmussen came to power in early 1993 when then-Prime Minister Poul Schlüter resigned after an inquiry found that he had misinformed the Folketing about the so-called Tamil Case.

A 1998 initiative, dubbed the Whitsun Packet (Danish: Pinsepakken) from the season it was issued, increased taxes, limiting private consumption. It was not universally popular with the electorate, which may have been a factor in the Social Democrats' defeat in the 2001 parliamentary election.

Rasmussen called an early election in 2001, saying this would give the next prime minister time to prepare for Denmark's upcoming presidency of the European Union in 2002. The patriarchal role Rasmussen had built for himself since the 11 September attacks had gained him and the Social Liberals their highest poll ratings in years, a lead that would be eroded in the buildup to the election.[1]

He was up against Liberal leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen. The campaign focused mainly on immigration and refugees, which worked to the benefit of the anti-immigration Danish People's Party. Two in every three Danes now supported tighter immigration restrictions, compared to only one in two before 11 September. In the last few days of the campaign a number of predominantly left-leaning artists and intellectuals urged the Danish electorate not to vote for a rightwing government, warning that the Danish People's Party would then be likely to wield great influence on government policy.[1]

Other campaign focuses were on welfare and health care. Poul Nyrup Rasmussen stated the aim of creating a more robust economy to deal with the economic downturn.[2] There was little debate about the European Union as the two leaders' opinions on that subject were largely the same.

The loss of power in the 2001 election to Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Venstre meant that the Social Democrats lost their position as the largest party in the Folketing, a position they had held without interruption since the 1924 Folketing election. On election night Rasmussen vowed to stay on as party leader, famously declaring, "I will not run away with my tail between my legs."[3] He announced an effort of "renewal" within the Social Democrats, urging the promotion of centrist party members to leadership positions. Influential factions opposed Rasmussen's efforts, calling his leadership into question, and in late 2002 he announced that he would be stepping down as chairman.[4]

A key issue tackled by Rasmussen in the European Parliament was the lack of regulation for private equity and hedge funds. He worked to secure greater regulation in this area. starting long before the onset of the financial crisis. His report, proposing binding rules for all players as well as greater transparency and accountability, was passed by the European Parliament in September 2008. Rasmussen has since criticised the European Commission, and in particular Commission President José Manuel Durão Barroso and Commissioner Charlie McCreevy for failing to respond to the report with sufficient speed or dedication.[5]

Rasmussen has also slammed the Commission's response to the economic crisis; in March 2009 he wrote: "A new, updated Recovery Plan is needed now, otherwise there will be 25 million unemployed in 2010. There must be real coordination focused on real investments. Europe also needs to do more for the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. It is in our common economic and political interest to prevent financial meltdown in those countries. Europe talks a lot about solidarity, now is the time it is really needed."[6]

In 2004 Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES, succeeding Robin Cook in the post. He was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006. The position involves coordinating the political vision of the party, ensuring unity, chairing the party presidency and representing the party on a regular basis. As PES President he is also President of the Global Progressive Forum and sits on committee of Transatlantic Dialogue, which fosters cooperation between progressives from the USA and Europe. Rasmussen has played a central role in making the party more inclusive and oversaw the launch of the network 'PES Activists', as well as a radically participative consultation process to construct the party's manifesto for the 2009 European election.

Rasmussen's influence in politicising the PES can be seen in the party's headline political initiative, New Social Europe.[7] Based on a report written by Rasmussen and former President of the European Commission Jacques Delors, this aims at creating a "fairer, more inclusive, and more dynamic society".

Currently, he is on the advisory board of OMFIF where he is regularly involved in meetings regarding the financial and monetary system.

Rasmussen is married to Lone Dybkjær, a member of the Folketing (and a former MEP) for the centrist Radikale Venstre. He enjoys holidaying with his wife in their second house as well as swimming, walking, and reflecting with friends. He also likes listening to music.[8] He is not related to his two immediate successors as Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen or Lars Løkke Rasmussen. His daughter committed suicide in 1993. </ref>

Rasmussen is a member of the Club of Madrid.[9] In 2007 he published the book I grådighedens tid (In a Time of Greed), which contains harsh criticism of the role hedge and venture capital funds play in the global economy.

1.
Member of the European Parliament
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A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament. When the European Parliament was first established, MEPs were directly appointed by the governments of states from among those already sitting in their own national parliaments. Since 1979, however, MEPs have been elected by universal suffrage. Each member state establishes its own method for electing MEPs – and in some states this has changed over time –, in some member states the MEPs are elected to represent a single national constituency, in others they are elected from sub-national regions. For a list of current MEPs, see Members of the European Parliament 2014–2019, from 1 January 2007, when Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU, there were 785 MEPs, but their number was reduced to 736 at the elections in 2009. With effect from the elections held in May 2014 the number has risen again and now stands at 751, with member state having at least six. Elections are held every five years, on the basis of universal adult suffrage. The electoral area may be subdivided if this will not generally affect the nature of the voting system. Any election threshold on the level must not exceed five percent. As the number of MEPs granted to each state has arisen from treaty negotiations. No change in this configuration can occur without the consent of all national governments. The most recent elections to the European Parliament were the European elections of 2014 and they were the largest simultaneous transnational elections ever held anywhere in the world, since nearly 500 million citizens were eligible to vote. The European Parliament has a turnover of members compared to some national parliaments. For instance, after the 2004 elections, the majority of elected members had not been members in the parliamentary session. Only one has served continuously since the first elections in 1979, MEPs are organised into seven different cross-nationality political groups, except the 15 non-attached members known as non-inscrits. The two largest groups are the European Peoples Party and the Socialists & Democrats and these two groups have dominated the Parliament for much of its life, continuously holding between 50 and 70 percent of the seats together. No single group has held a majority in Parliament. Although, the European groups, between 2004 and 2009, were more cohesive than their US counterparts

2.
Prime Minister of Denmark
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The Prime Minister of Denmark is the head of government in the Kingdom of Denmark. Before the creation of the office, Denmark did not initially have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the Monarch. The Constitution of 1849 established a monarchy by limiting the powers of the Monarch. The inaugural holder of the office was Adam Wilhelm Moltke, the Prime Minister presides over a cabinet that is formally appointed by the Monarch. In practice, the appointment of the Prime Minister is determined by their support in the Folketing. Since the beginning of the 20th century no single party has held a majority in the Folketing, so the Prime Minister must head a coalition of political parties, as well as their own party. Additionally, only four coalition governments since World War II have enjoyed a majority in the Folketing, the current Prime Minister of Denmark is Lars Løkke Rasmussen. He leads a government consisting of Venstre with parliamentary support from the Danish Peoples Party, Liberal Alliance, from approximately 1699 to 1730, the highest ranking non-monarchial government official was titled the Grand Chancellor and from 1730 until 1848, this office was titled Minister of State. These titles foreshadowed the modern office of Prime Minister, however, unlike the current office, the King held executive authority as absolute ruler from 1661 until the enactment of a liberal Constitution in the early nineteenth century. The office of Prime Minister was introduced as a part of the constitutional monarchy outlined in 1848, the new Constitution established a parliamentary system by creating a new bicameral parliament and a Council Presidum, headed by a Council President. The Council Presidium is regarded as the predecessor of the modern Prime Ministers Office, the first Council President was Adam Wilhelm Moltke, who came to power on 22 March 1848. Molte and his two successors also held the title of premierminister, which translates as prime minister. From 1855 onwards the Prime Minister was known simply as the Council President, Carl Christian Hall became the first Prime Minister/Council President to lead a political party. The title of the Prime Minister changed again in 1918 under the Premiership of Carl Theodor Zahle, becoming titled the Minister of State, by the mid-nineteenth century a strong party-system had developed, with most Prime Ministers being the leader of either Venstre or Højre. However, by 1924 the Social Democrats had become the largest party, during the first years of Occupation of Denmark, the governments of Prime Ministers Vilhelm Buhl and then Erik Scavenius cooperated with the Nazi occupiers. On 29 August 1943, the Danish government resigned, refusing to grant further concessions to Nazi Germany, all government operations were assumed by the permanent secretaries of the individual departments, and this arrangement lasted until the Liberation of Denmark on 5 May 1945. Since King Christian X never accepted the resignation of the government, the twentieth century was dominated by Social Democratic Prime Ministers leading left-wing coalitions, Social Democratic Prime Ministers were in power nearly continuously from 1924 until 1982. The first Prime Minister from the Conservative Peoples Party, Poul Schlüter, the centre-right coalition ruled in 1993, last for eleven years, made it became the longest centre-right government in Denmark history since 1920s

3.
Margrethe II of Denmark
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Margrethe II is the Queen of Denmark. She is also the authority of the Church of Denmark. Born into the House of Glücksburg, a house with origins in Northern Germany, she was the eldest child of Frederick IX of Denmark. She succeeded her father upon his death on 14 January 1972, having had become heir presumptive to her father in 1953, on her accession, Margrethe became the first female monarch of Denmark since Margaret I, ruler of the Scandinavian countries in 1375–1412 during the Kalmar Union. Having been on the Danish throne for 45 years, she is the second longest-reigning Danish monarch after her ancestor Christian IV, in 1967, she married Henri de Laborde de Monpezat, with whom she has two sons, Crown Prince Frederik and Prince Joachim. Princess Margrethe was born 16 April 1940 at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen as the first child of Crown Prince Frederick, later King Frederick IX and Crown Princess Ingrid and her birth took place just one week after Nazi Germanys invasion of Denmark on 9 April 1940. She was baptised on 14 May in the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen, since her paternal grandfather was also the King of Iceland, she was given an Icelandic name, Þórhildur. When Margrethe was four years old, in 1944, her first sister, Princess Benedikte later married Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and lives some of the time in Germany. Her second sister Princess Anne Marie was born in 1946, anne-Marie later married Constantine II of Greece and now lives in Greece. Margrethe and her sisters grew up in apartments at Frederick VIIIs Palace at Amalienborg in Copenhagen and she spent summer holidays with the royal family in her parents summer residence at Gråsten Palace in Southern Jutland. On 20 April 1947, King Christian X died and Margrethes father ascended the throne as King Frederick IX. At the time of her birth, only males could ascend the throne of Denmark, as she had no brothers, it was assumed that her uncle Prince Knud would one day assume the throne. The process of changing the constitution started in 1947, not long after her father ascended the throne, the popularity of Frederick and his daughters and the more prominent role of women in Danish life started the complicated process of altering the constitution. The law required that the proposal be passed by two successive Parliaments and then by a referendum, which occurred 27 March 1953, Princess Margrethe therefore became heir presumptive. On her eighteenth birthday,16 April 1958, Margrethe was given a seat in the Council of State and she subsequently chaired the meetings of the Council in the absence of the King. Margrethe was educated at the private school N. Zahles School in Copenhagen from which she graduated in 1959 and she is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Queen Margrethe is fluent in Danish, French, English, Swedish and German, Princess Margrethe married a French diplomat, Count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat,10 June 1967, at the Church of Holmen in Copenhagen. Laborde de Monpezat received the style and title of His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark because of his new position as the spouse of the heir presumptive to the Danish throne, Margrethe gave birth to her first child 26 May 1968

4.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen
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Anders Fogh Rasmussen is a Danish politician who was the 39th Prime Minister of Denmark from November 2001 to April 2009 and the 12th Secretary General of NATO from August 2009 to October 2014. Rasmussen was first elected to the Folketing in 1978 and served in ministerial positions, including Minister of Tax. In his early career, Rasmussen was a strident critic of the welfare state, however, through the 1990s, his views moved towards the political centre. Rasmussens government relied on the Danish Peoples Party for support, keeping with the Danish tradition of minority government and his government introduced tougher limits on non-EEA immigration and a freeze on tax rates. Certain taxes were lowered, but his partners in the Conservative Peoples Party repeatedly argued for more tax cuts. He authored several books about taxation and government structure and he resigned as Prime Minister in April 2009 to become Secretary General of NATO. His term as Secretary General was to end in the summer of 2014, however, on 11 December 2013 the North Atlantic Council extended his term until 30 September 2014, in order to ensure the organisation of the 2014 NATO summit in Newport, United Kingdom. Rasmussen was born in 1953 in Ginnerup, Jutland, to farmer Knud Rasmussen and his surname is Rasmussen, while Fogh, his mothers maiden name, is his middle name and not considered part of his last name. He is correctly referred to as Rasmussen, unless his name is used. He matriculated in languages and social studies from Viborg Cathedral School, in 1969–1972. and studied Economics at the University of Aarhus and he has been active in politics most of his life and has authored several books about taxation and government structure. He and his wife Anne-Mette married in 1978 and have three children, Henrik Fogh Rasmussen, Maria and Christina, as an amateur cyclist, Rasmussen completed part of the notorious Alpe dHuez stage of the 2008 Tour de France the day after the professional race took place. His attendance at Le Tour was at the invitation of Danish former cyclist Bjarne Riis, Rasmussen is also an avid runner. He is of no relation to either his predecessor Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and he has held positions in government and opposition throughout his career, first winning a seat in the Folketing in 1978. In general, Rasmussen is in favour of centralisation, privatisation, Rasmussen wrote the book From Social State to Minimal State in 1993, in which he advocated an extensive reform of the Danish welfare system along classic liberal lines. In particular, he favours lower taxes and less government interference in corporate, in 1993 he was awarded the Adam Smith award by the libertarian society Libertas, partly because of this book. From 1987 to 1990 he was Minister for Taxation and from 1990 Minister for Economy, Rasmussen disagreed with the findings of the commission, but faced with the threat of a motion of no confidence, he left his posts voluntarily. His Liberal Party won power in the November 2001 election, defeating the Social Democratic government of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and that election marked a dramatic change in Danish politics. It was the first time since 1920 that the Social Democratic Party lost its position as the largest party in the Folketing, together these three parties survived both the 2005 election and the 2007 election

5.
Party of European Socialists
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The Party of European Socialists is a social-democratic European political party. The PES comprises national-level political parties primarily from states of the European Union. The PES member parties are mostly members of the Progressive Alliance or Socialist International. The political group in the European Parliament of the PES is the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the PES also operates in the Committee of the Regions and the European Council. The PES is currently led by Sergei Stanishev, former Prime Minister of Bulgaria, the partys English name is Party of European Socialists. The Socialists 1962 congress pushed for greater democratisation and powers for Parliament though it was only in 1969 that this possibility was examined by the member states, in 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the European Community bringing in new parties from these countries. The enlarged Socialist Congress met in Bonn and inaugurated the Confederation of the Socialist Parties of the European Community, the Congress also passed a resolution on social policy, including the right to decent work, social security, democracy and equality in the European economy. In 1978, the Confederation of Socialist Parties approved the first common European election Manifesto, the Luxembourg Congress approved the first Statue of the Confederation of Socialist Parties in 1980. The accession of Greece in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986 brought in more parties, in 1984 another common Socialist election manifesto was approved at a congress in Luxembourg. In 2004 Poul Nyrup Rasmussen defeated Giuliano Amato to be elected President of the PES and he was re-elected for a further 2.5 years at the PES Congress in Porto on 8 December 2006 and for another 2.5 years at the Prague Congress in 2009. In 2010, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies was founded as the foundation of the PES. The Party of European Socialists held its latest Congress in Brussels on 28–29 September 2012 and these congresses are organized every two and a half years, once during the year of the elections for the European Parliament, and once at mid-term. The same Congress elected Achim Post as new Secretary General, the congress also adopted a process presented by the PES as more democratic and transparent for the selection of their candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission in 2014. Presidents of the Party of European Socialists and its predecessors, there are thirty-three full member parties from all the twenty-eight member states and Norway. There are a further thirteen associate and twelve observer parties, PES is an associated organisation of the Socialist International. Young European Socialists is the organisation of PES and PES Women is the partys womens organisation. The parties meet at the party Congress twice every five years to decide on political orientation, every year that the Congress does not meet, the Council shapes PES policy. The Congress also elects the partys President, Vice Presidents and the Presidency and they may also be joined by the President of the European Parliament, a PES European Commissioner and a representative from associate parties and organisations

6.
Robin Cook
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He studied at the University of Edinburgh before becoming a Member of Parliament for Edinburgh Central in 1974. In parliament he was known for his ability and rapidly rose through the political ranks. He resigned from his positions as Lord President of the Council, Robin Cook was born in the County Hospital, Bellshill, Scotland, the only son of Peter and Christina Cook. His father was a teacher who grew up in Fraserburgh. Cook was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School and, from 1960, at first, Cook intended to become a Church of Scotland minister, but lost his faith as he discovered politics. He joined the Labour Party in 1965 and became an atheist and he remained so for the rest of his life. He then studied English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, where he obtained an undergraduate MA with Honours in English Literature and he began studying for a PhD on Charles Dickens and Victorian serial novels, supervised by John Sutherland, but gave it up in 1970. In 1971, after a working as a secondary school teacher, Cook became a tutor-organiser of the Workers Educational Association for Lothian. He gave up both posts when elected a member of parliament on his 28th birthday, in February 1974, when the constituency boundaries were revised for the 1983 general election, he transferred to the new Livingston constituency after Tony Benn declined to run for the seat. Cook represented Livingston until his death, in parliament, Cook joined the left-wing Tribune Group of the Parliamentary Labour Party and frequently opposed the policies of the Wilson and Callaghan governments. He was a supporter of constitutional and electoral reform and of efforts to increase the number of female MPs. He also supported unilateral nuclear disarmament and the abandoning of the Labour Partys euroscepticism of the 1970s and 1980s, during his early years in parliament Cook championed several liberalising social measures, to mixed effect. After Labour lost power in May 1979, Cook encouraged Michael Foots bid to become party leader, when Tony Benn challenged Denis Healey for the partys deputy leadership in September 1981, Cook supported Healey. He was campaign manager for Neil Kinnocks successful 1983 bid to become leader of the Labour Party, a year later he was made party campaign co-ordinator but in October 1986 Cook was surprisingly voted out of the shadow cabinet. He was re-elected in July 1987 and in October 1988 elected to Labours National Executive Committee and he was one of the key figures in the modernisation of the Labour Party under Kinnock. He was Shadow Health Secretary and Shadow Trade Secretary, before taking on foreign affairs in 1994, the government won the vote by a majority of one. This led to legislation for major reforms including Scottish and Welsh devolution, other measures have not been enacted so far, such as further House of Lords reform. On 5 May 2011 the United Kingdom held a referendum on replacing the first-past-the-post voting system with the Alternative Vote method, on 6 May it was announced that the proposed move to the AV voting system had been rejected by a margin of 67. 9% to 32. 1%

7.
Sergei Stanishev
–
Sergei Dmitrievich Stanishev is a Bulgarian politician who was the leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party from 2001 until 2014. He is the President of the Party of European Socialists, the second-largest party in the European Parliament since 2011 and he was Prime Minister of Bulgaria from 2005 to 2009. Stanishev was born in 1966, in Kherson, Ukrainian SSR to Dinah Sergeevna Muhina, a Jewish woman and Dimitar Jacov Stanishev, after beginning his schooling in Russia, he then graduated from the 35 SOU Dobri Voynikov in Sofia. Stanishev subsequently graduated from Moscow State University in 1989 and obtained his degree in 1994 both in the field of history. His thesis was entitled “The system of promotion of high ranking officials in Russia. In 1998, he specialized in sciences at Moscow School of political studies. He was a fellow in international relations at the London School of Economics. He also worked as a freelance journalist, in 1995 he became a staff member in the Foreign Affairs Department of the BSP. He was Chief of Foreign Policy and International Relations for the BSP from 1996 to 2001, in May 2000 he was elected a Member of the BSP Supreme Council and Member of the Executive Bureau. In June 2001, he entered politics when he was elected as a member of the Bulgarian National Assembly from the region of Ruse, since April 2004 Stanishev has also been a member of the presidency of the Party of European Socialists. For more information on cabinet formation and composition, see Stanishev Government, in the general election of June 25,2005, Stanishev was re-elected to the National Assembly, this time for a seat in Burgas. Under his leadership the Coalition for Bulgaria won 31% of the votes, Stanishev said that the next government should be led by the party which won most votes in the elections. On 20 July, after nearly a month of political uncertainty, however, the parliament voted against Stanishevs proposed Cabinet by 119 to 117 votes. This was followed by two weeks of political deadlock. Stanishev said the coalitions priorities would be European integration, social responsibility and he was elected Prime Minister by the Bulgarian parliament on August 16 with 168 in favour and 67 against. On August 17,2005, with a ceremony on 1 Dondukov Boulevard. Sergei Stanishev is an avid pro-EU politician who is credited with reforming Bulgaria to the extent that he managed to steer his country to be among the last group of countries which joined the EU, reading the report, Barroso said the two nations entry would be a historic achievement. Also in June 2008 The Guardian published a highly critical of planned real estate development in a pristine seacoast area under EU environmental protection

8.
Social Democrats (Denmark)
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The Social Democrats is a social-democratic political party in Denmark. It was the coalition partner in government from the 2011 parliamentary election. After the 2015 parliamentary election, the party is no longer in government, though it is still the largest party in the Danish parliament, founded by Louis Pio in 1871, the party first entered the Folketing in 1884. By the early 20th century it had become the party with the largest representation in the Folketing and it first formed a government in 1924 under Thorvald Stauning, the longest-serving Danish Prime Minister of the 20th century. During Staunings government, the Social Democrats exerted an influence on Danish society. From 2002 to 2016 the party used the name Socialdemokraterne in some contexts, a member of the Party of European Socialists, the Social Democrats have three MEPs in the European Parliament. Since its foundation the lemma of the party has been Liberty, Equality and Brotherhood, the leader of the party is Mette Frederiksen. She succeeded Helle Thorning-Schmidt, who stepped down after the left blocs defeat in the 2015 General Election, deputy leaders are Frank Jensen, Lord Mayor of Copenhagen, and Mogens Jensen. The secretary general is Henrik Dam Kristensen, the party secretary is Lars Midtiby, in the Cabinet of Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the party had ten ministers including the Prime Minister. The party was founded in 1871 by Louis Pio, Harald Brix og Paul Geleff, the goal was to organize the emerging working class on a democratic and socialist basis. The industrialization of Denmark had begun in the mid 19th century, the social democratic movement emerged from the desire to give this group political rights and representation in parliament. In 1876 the Party held a conference, adopting the first party manifesto. In the 1924 parliamentary elections the Social democratic party won the majority with 36.6 percent of the vote, the same year he appointed the worlds first female minister Nina Bang, nine years after womens suffrage had been given in Denmark. Stauning stayed in power until his death in 1942, his party laying the foundations for the Danish welfare state, in January 1933 Staunings government entered into what was then the most extensive settlement yet in Danish politics — the Kanslergade settlement — with the liberal party Venstre. In 1935, Stauning was reelected with the famous slogan Stauning or Chaos, through the 1940s and until 1972 Denmark was governed by the following Social Democratic prime ministers. 1939 –1955, Hans Hedtoft 1955 –1960, H. C, the Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen maintained a parliamentary majority during the period from 1993 to 2001 by virtue of their support from the Socialist Peoples Party and the Red-Green Alliance. Towards the end of the 1990s, a surplus of 30 billion kroner turned into a deficit. To combat this, the government increased taxes, limiting private consumption, after being defeated by the Liberal Party in the 2001 election, the party chairmanship went to former finance and foreign minister Mogens Lykketoft

9.
Svend Auken
–
Svend Gunnarsen Auken was a Danish politician. He represented the Social Democrats as a member of the Danish parliament from 1971 until his death, Auken held a degree in political science from the University of Aarhus and also taught there for a period in the very early 1970s. He was Minister of Employment from 1 October 1977 to 10 September 1982 in the Cabinet of Anker Jørgensen II, III, IV, and V. In 1987 Svend Auken succeeded Jørgensen as leader of the Danish Social Democrats and his position as leader of the Social Democrats was challenged in 1992 by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, who went on to win the internal election. That gave Auken the dubious distinction of being the first Social Democratic leader since 1910 to not become prime minister, after the defeat of Rasmussens government in the general election of 2001, Svend Auken continued to serve as a member of the Danish parliament. He was the EU-affairs spokesman of his party until his death and he is one of the few Danish politicians to be honoured in the United States House of Representatives. He was married to journalist and editor Bettina Heltberg from 1966 to 1993, at his death he was married to film director Anne Wivel. He died of cancer on 4 August 2009

10.
Mogens Lykketoft
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Mogens Lykketoft is a Danish politician and a leading figure in the Social Democratic Party. In December 2002 he succeeded Poul Nyrup Rasmussen as party leader of the Social Democrats, after losing the 2005 Danish parliamentary election he resigned as leader of his party. In the Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I, II, III and IV which governed from 1993 to 2001, he held positions as Finance Minister, during the cabinet of Helle Thorning Schmidt from 2011 to 2015 he was Speaker of the Folketing. In June 2015 he was elected the President of the United Nations General Assembly presiding over the 70th session of the General Assembly beginning 15 September 2015. Lykketoft was born out of wedlock and put up for adoption and he was adopted twice, since his first adoptive father died when he was only a few months old. The second time he was adopted by shopkeeper Axel Lykketoft and Martha Lykketoft and he was the only child in the family and had, according to himself, a safe and secure childhood. Lykketoft matriculated in mathematics from Frederiksberg Gymnasium, a secondary school, in 1964. He was married for the first time in 1967 to librarian Aase Toft, the family lived in Albertslund and was next-door neighbors to his good friend Poul Nyrup Rasmussen and his family. In January 1979 Aase Lykketoft died from an intracranial hemorrhage and he has two children from his first marriage, Maja, born in 1969, and Kit, born in 1972. Two years after his first wife died he got married for the time, this time to Helle Mollerup. In 1986 he divorced Helle Mollerup and later married MP Jytte Hilden, from 1993 to 1997 they were both ministers in the Cabinets of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen. Since 2005 Lykketoft has been married to author Mette Holm and they have written three books together. At Copenhagen University Lykketoft became a member of Frit Forum, the Social Democratic student organisation, from 1965 to 1970 he was part of its management committee and he was its national chairman for the academic year 1968/69. From 1975 to 1981 he was department head in The Economic Council of the Labour Movement and he had been working at the think tank since 1966. On January 20,1981 Prime Minister Anker Jørgensen picked him to be Taxation Minister and he was minister for less than 20 months before the Social Democratic government resigned. In the 1981 general election he became MP for the Copenhagen County constituency and he has been member of the Folketing ever since, standing for election eleven times. Since 2007 he has been representing Greater Copenhagen greater constituency, in 1987 he unsuccessfully tried to be kingmaker at the election of a new leader of the Danish Social Democrats. The attempt put him in opposition to the new leader Svend Auken, five years later he was more successful when his new candidate, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, challenged and defeated Auken at an extraordinary congress of the Social Democrats

11.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government

12.
Folketing
–
The Folketing, also known as the Danish Parliament in English, is the unicameral national parliament of the Kingdom of Denmark. Established in 1849, until 1953 the Folketing was the house of a bicameral parliament, called the Rigsdag. It meets in Christiansborg Palace, on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, the Folketing passes all laws, approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government. It is also responsible for adopting the states budgets and approving the states accounts, as set out in the Danish Constitution, the Folketing shares power with the reigning monarch. In practice, however, the role is limited to signing laws passed by the legislature. The Folketing consists of 179 representatives,175 from Denmark,2 from Greenland, general elections must be held every four years, but it is within the powers of the Prime Minister to ask the monarch to call for an election before the term has elapsed. On a vote of no confidence, the Folketing may force a single Minister or the government to resign. Members are democratically elected by proportional representation,135 by the DHondt method and 40 by the Sainte-Laguë method, the Danish political system has traditionally generated coalitions. Most post-war governments have been minority coalitions ruling with the support of non-government parties, the most recent general election took place on 18 June 2015 and the Folketing reconvened on 6 October. The first sitting of the house was attended by Queen Margrethe II, from 1849 to 1953 the Folketing was one of the two houses in the bicameral parliament known as the Rigsdag, the other house was known as the Landsting. Since both houses, in principle, had power, the terms upper house and lower house were not generally used. The difference between the houses was voter representation, the Folketing was elected by common vote among men and consisted mainly of independent farmers, traders, and merchants as well as the educated classes. From 1915 both men and women had the right of vote for both houses, and also the Landsting was elected by vote, although indirectly and with a higher age limit than for the Folketing. During the next decades, law-making mainly took place in the Folketing, in 1953, a revised constitution was adopted by popular vote. Among the changes was the elimination of the Landsting and the introduction of a unicameral parliament, Christiansborg Palace has been the domicile of parliament since 1849. The palace is located in the heart of Copenhagen, winning a seat in parliament requires only 2% of the vote. With such a low threshold, a large number of parties are represented in the chamber, making it all. No party has achieved this since 1901, all Danish governments since then have been coalitions or one-party minority governments

13.
Esbjerg
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Esbjerg is a seaport town and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is 71 kilometres west of Kolding and 164 kilometres southwest of Aarhus, with an urban population of 71,618, it is the fifth-largest city in Denmark, and the largest in west Jutland. Before a decision was made to establish a harbour at Esbjerg in 1868, Esbjerg developed quickly with the population rising to 13,000 by 1901 and 70,000 by 1970. In addition to its fishing and shipping activities, it became an important centre for agricultural exports. Over the years, many of the visitors have arrived by ferry from Harwich, Essex, England. The harbour facilities are being expanded to answer the needs of the wind-turbine industry, Esbjerg is served by Esbjerg Airport with flights to Aberdeen, Scotland and Stavanger, Norway. The town has several museums and entertainment venues, including Esbjerg Art Museum, Esbjerg Museum. The Esbjerg Performing Arts Centre was completed in 1997 to designs by Jan, when approached by sea, the Man Meets the Sea is one of the prominent monuments, consisting of four 9-metre-tall white-coloured men, overlooking Sædding Beach. The sculpture was designed by Svend Wiig Hansen and installed in 1995 and it hosts branches of the University of Southern Denmark and Aalborg University, Esbjerg is increasingly recognized for its university facilities and sporting activities. Esbjergs oldest existing house, on the corner of Kongensgade, was built around 1660, at the time, Esbjerg consisted of only a few farms. Developed under royal decree from 1868 until 1874, the harbour was opened in 1874, with rail connections to Varde and to Fredericia. Initial planning of the town was conducted by chartered surveyor H. Wilkens in 1870 with streets laid out in the form of a rectangular grid, the market square was positioned at the centre, midway between the harbour and the railway station. From only 400 inhabitants at the beginning of the 1870s, the town and its population rapidly, with 1529 residents mentioned in 1880. In 1893, Esbjerg became a municipality in its own right, receiving the status and privileges of a town in 1899. A number of institutions and facilities were established, including the courthouse and town hall, the gas and waterworks. From the beginning of the 20th century, Esbjerg prospered not only as a fishing port, established in 1895 by nine local dairies, the butter-packaging factory, Dansk Andels Smørpakkeri, employed some 150 workers until 1920, packing and dispatching butter for the London market. It was later extended to include egg marketing under the name Dansk Andels Ægeksport, ultimately, it handled produce from 140 dairies spread across the whole of Jutland. After the Second World War, the town developed several agricultural industries, the slaughterhouse and meat packaging facility, Esbjerg Andels-Slagteri, established in 1887, became Denmarks sixth largest by 1962

14.
Danish people
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Danes are the citizens of Denmark, most of whom speak Danish and consider themselves to be of Danish ethnicity. The first mention of Danes are from the 6th century in Jordanes Getica, by Procopius, the first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which states how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century. Since the formulation of a Danish national identity in the 19th century, Danish national identity was built on a basis of peasant culture and Lutheran theology, theologian N. F. S. Grundtvig and his popular movement played a prominent part in the process. Today, the criterion for being considered a Dane is having Danish citizenship. Frankish annalists of the 8th century often refer to Danish kings, the Bobbio Orosius from the early 7th century, distinguishes between South Danes inhabiting Jutland and North Danes inhabiting the isles and the province of Scania. The first mention of Danes within the Danish territory is on the Jelling Rune Stone which mentions how Harald Bluetooth converted the Danes to Christianity in the 10th century. Between c.960 and the early 980s, Harald Bluetooth established a kingdom in the lands of the Danes, stretching from Jutland to Scania. Around the same time, he received a visit from a German missionary who, by surviving an ordeal by fire according to legend, the following years saw the Danish Viking expansion, which incorporated Norway and Northern England into the Danish kingdom. After the death of Canute the Great in 1035, England broke away from Danish control, canutes nephew Sweyn Estridson re-established strong royal Danish authority and built a good relationship with the archbishop of Bremen — at that time the Archbishop of all of Scandinavia. The Reformation, which originated in the German lands in the early 16th century from the ideas of Martin Luther, had a impact on Denmark. The Danish Reformation started in the mid-1520s, some Danes wanted access to the Bible in their own language. In 1524, Hans Mikkelsen and Christiern Pedersen translated the New Testament into Danish and those who had traveled to Wittenberg in Saxony and come under the influence of the teachings of Luther and his associates included Hans Tausen, a Danish monk in the Order of St John Hospitallers. The Dano-Norwegian Kingdom grew wealthy during the 16th century, largely because of the traffic through the Øresund. The Crown of Denmark could tax the traffic, because it controlled both sides of the Sound at the time, in the centuries after this loss of territory, the populations of the Scanian lands, who had previously been considered Danish, came to be fully integrated as Swedes. Later, in the early 19th century, Denmark suffered a defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, Denmark lost control over Norway, the political and economic defeat ironically sparked what is known as the Danish Golden Age during which a Danish national identity first came to be fully formed. The Danish liberal and national movements gained momentum in the 1830s, a new constitution emerged, separating the powers and granting the franchise to all adult males, as well as freedom of the press, religion, and association. The king became head of the executive branch, Danishness is the concept on which contemporary Danish national and ethnic identity is based. It is a set of values formed through the historic trajectory of the formation of the Danish nation, importantly, since its formulation, Danish identity has not been linked to a particular racial or biological heritage, as many other ethno-national identities have

15.
Alma mater
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Alma mater is an allegorical Latin phrase for a university or college. In modern usage, it is a school or university which an individual has attended, the phrase is variously translated as nourishing mother, nursing mother, or fostering mother, suggesting that a school provides intellectual nourishment to its students. Before its modern usage, Alma mater was a title in Latin for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele. The source of its current use is the motto, Alma Mater Studiorum, of the oldest university in continuous operation in the Western world and it is related to the term alumnus, denoting a university graduate, which literally means a nursling or one who is nourished. The phrase can also denote a song or hymn associated with a school, although alma was a common epithet for Ceres, Cybele, Venus, and other mother goddesses, it was not frequently used in conjunction with mater in classical Latin. Alma Redemptoris Mater is a well-known 11th century antiphon devoted to Mary, the earliest documented English use of the term to refer to a university is in 1600, when University of Cambridge printer John Legate began using an emblem for the universitys press. In English etymological reference works, the first university-related usage is often cited in 1710, many historic European universities have adopted Alma Mater as part of the Latin translation of their official name. The University of Bologna Latin name, Alma Mater Studiorum, refers to its status as the oldest continuously operating university in the world. At least one, the Alma Mater Europaea in Salzburg, Austria, the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been called the Alma Mater of the Nation because of its ties to the founding of the United States. At Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, and the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia, the ancient Roman world had many statues of the Alma Mater, some still extant. Modern sculptures are found in prominent locations on several American university campuses, outside the United States, there is an Alma Mater sculpture on the steps of the monumental entrance to the Universidad de La Habana, in Havana, Cuba. Media related to Alma mater at Wikimedia Commons The dictionary definition of alma mater at Wiktionary Alma Mater Europaea website

16.
University of Copenhagen
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The University of Copenhagen is the oldest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479 as a studium generale, it is the second oldest institution for education in Scandinavia after Uppsala University. The university has 23,473 undergraduate students,17,398 postgraduate students,2,968 doctoral students, the university has four campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the headquarters located in central Copenhagen. Most courses are taught in Danish, however, many courses are offered in English. The university has several thousands of students, about half of whom come from Nordic countries. The university has had 8 alumni become Nobel laureates and has produced one Turing Award recipient, the rector, the prorector and the director of the university is appointed by the university board. The rector in turn appoints directors of the different parts of the central administration, the deans appoint heads of 50 departments. There is no faculty senate and faculty is not involved in the appointment of rector, deans, hence the university has no faculty governance, although there are elected Academic Boards at faculty level who advise the deans. The governing body manages a budget of about BDKK8.3. The University is organized into six faculties and about 100 departments, the University employs about 5,600 academic staff and 4,400 technical and administrative staff. The total number of enrolled students is about 40,000 annually, UCPH has established an international graduate talent program which provides grants for international Ph. D, students and a tenure track carrier system. UCPH operates about fifty master’s programmes taught in English, and has arranged about 150 exchange agreements with institutions and 800 Erasmus agreements. Each year there are about 1,700 incoming exchange students,2,000 outbound exchange students and 4,000 international degree-seeking students, about 3,000 Ph. D. students study there each year. South Campus – houses the Faculty of Humanities and a proportion of the Faculty of Science. In the winter of 2016–2017, the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Theology will also move to South Campus, frederiksberg Campus – home to sections of the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences. The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences and the Faculty of Science also use the Taastrup Campus, the Faculty of Science also has facilities in Helsingør, Hørsholm and Nødebo. The University of Copenhagen was founded in 1479 and is the oldest university in Denmark, between the closing of the Studium Generale in Lund in 1536 and the establishment of the University of Aarhus in the late 1920s, it was the only university in Denmark. The university became a centre of Roman Catholic theological learning, but also had faculties for the study of law, medicine, between 1675 and 1788, the university introduced the concept of degree examinations

17.
European Parliament
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The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union. Together with the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, the Parliament is composed of 751 members, who represent the second-largest democratic electorate in the world and the largest trans-national democratic electorate in the world. It has been elected every five years by universal suffrage since 1979. However, voter turnout at European Parliament elections has fallen consecutively at each election since that date, voter turnout in 2014 stood at 42. 54% of all European voters. The Parliament is the first institution of the EU, and shares equal legislative and it likewise has equal control over the EU budget. Finally, the European Commission, the body of the EU, is accountable to Parliament. In particular, Parliament elects the President of the Commission, and it can subsequently force the Commission as a body to resign by adopting a motion of censure. The President of the European Parliament is Antonio Tajani, elected in January 2017 and he presides over a multi-party chamber, the two largest groups being the Group of the European Peoples Party and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. The last union-wide elections were the 2014 elections, the European Parliament has three places of work – Brussels, the city of Luxembourg and Strasbourg. Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices, meetings of the whole Parliament take place in Strasbourg and in Brussels. Committee meetings are held in Brussels, the Parliament, like the other institutions, was not designed in its current form when it first met on 10 September 1952. One of the oldest common institutions, it began as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and it was a consultative assembly of 78 appointed parliamentarians drawn from the national parliaments of member states, having no legislative powers. Its development since its foundation shows how the European Unions structures have evolved without a master plan. Some, such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post, said of the union, nobody would have designed a government as complex. Even the Parliaments two seats, which have switched several times, are a result of various agreements or lack of agreements, the body was not mentioned in the original Schuman Declaration. It was assumed or hoped that difficulties with the British would be resolved to allow the Council of Europes Assembly to perform the task, a separate Assembly was introduced during negotiations on the Treaty as an institution which would counterbalance and monitor the executive while providing democratic legitimacy. The wording of the ECSC Treaty demonstrated the desire for more than a normal consultative assembly by using the term representatives of the people. Its early importance was highlighted when the Assembly was given the task of drawing up the treaty to establish a European Political Community

18.
Danish Social Liberal Party
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The Danish Social Liberal Party is a social-liberal political party in Denmark. The party is a member of Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals, the party was founded in 1905 as a split from the liberal Venstre Reform Party. The initial impetus was the expulsion of Venstres antimilitarist wing from the party in January 1905, the expelled members held a founding conference for the new party in Odense, on 21 May 1905. In addition to the differences over military spending, the social liberals also took a positive view than Venstre towards measures that aimed to reduce social inequality. The party also became the political leg of the radical movement. The party was open to aspects of the welfare state, and also advocated reforms to improve the position of smallholders. The partys social-liberal ideals are said to have inspired by the political economists Henry George. The literal translation radical left is nowadays somewhat misleading, as the party is described as being in the centre of the left-right political scale. The use of the word for left in the name of the parent party Venstre. Venstre originally was to the left of the conservative and aristocratic right, the party president is Klaus Frandsen and it has eight members in the Folketing. The partys political leader is Morten Østergaard, the party performed well at the 2005 elections. It came out with 9. 2% of the vote and 17 seats in Parliament. In the 2007 elections, the party share of the vote fell to 5. 1% and it lost 8 seats. In the subsequent 2011 elections, the party rose to 9. 5%. Around 2005 the party was inspired by Richard Floridas book The Rise of the Creative Class, the party also released their own book/political program called Det kreative Danmark. Current issues high on the agenda for the party are, Strong opposition to the immigration policies of the former Liberal-Conservative government. A major tax reform, which should simplify the tax system in such a way that taxes will be reduced in favour of more environmental taxes, less tax deductions. The point of this is to make working more attractive and the hiring of service more attractive

19.
Centre Democrats (Denmark)
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The Centre Democrats was a Danish political party. The party was formed in 1973 by Erhard Jakobsen, a former MP and mayor of Gladsaxe and it participated in both centre-right governments and centre-left governments. In the 2001 election it lost its representation, a severe setback for the party. In the 2005 election it got 33,635 votes and it also ran in several municipalities in the Danish municipal election in November 2005. On January 26,2008, a party conference decided to dissolve the party by February 1,2008. 1973-1989, Erhard Jakobsen 1989-2005, Mimi Jakobsen 2005-2007, Bjarne Møgelhøj 2007-2008, Ben Haddou centrumdemokraterne. dk - Official website

20.
Christian Democrats (Denmark)
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The Christian Democrats are a political party in Denmark. The party was founded in 1970 to oppose the liberalization of restrictions on pornography and it was known as the Christian Peoples Party from April 1970 to 2003. Originally, the party was not considered part of the European Christian democratic tradition, the Christian Democrats are a member of the European Peoples Party and the Centrist Democrat International. Despite its small size, the party has served in a number of coalition governments, from 2002 to 2005, the party was led by Marianne Karlsmose. The name of the party was changed to the Christian Democrats in 2003, in October 2005, the party elected Bodil Kornbek as its new chairman. Her attempt to introduce a more secular centre-left profile had some success in the beginning, but in the 2007 and 2011 parliamentary elections, in October 2008, Kornbek was replaced by Bjarne Hartung Kirkegaard, who represents its more rightist and religious wing. In 2010, the Christian Democrats regained parliamentary representation when the former Conservative Peoples Party member Per Ørum Jørgensen joined the party, since he was not formerly known for having expressed particularly religion-based opinions, these events once more softened the religious character of the party. This means that candidates from the two appeared on a joint list at the 2011 Danish parliamentary election. The Christian Democrats had themselves taken a somewhat regionalist stance at a moment when Fælleslisten had surged in opinion polls, in September 2012, Per Ørum Jørgensen resigned and subsequently left the party altogether in order to form a new party called Democratic Party. A new chairman, Egon Jakobsen, was appointed ad interim, on 27 October 2012, the former deputy chairman Stig Grenov was elected as new chairman. Larsen and Andreas Müller, 2010-2011 Kristian S. Flemming Kofod-Svendsen, Minister for Housing, Nordic Cooperation and Baltic Sea Questions. Jens Ove Kjeldsen, Former Deputy mayor in Herning Municipality, Kristian Andersen, Deputy mayor in Ringkøbing-Skjern Municipality. Fridtjof Stidsen, 2nd Deputy mayor in Hedensted Municipality, steven Van Hecke, Emmanuel Gerard, eds. Life at the Northern Margin, Christian Democracy in Scandinavia, Christian Democratic Parties in Europe Since the End of the Cold War

21.
Keynesian economics
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Keynesian economics are the various theories about how in the short run, and especially during recessions, economic output is strongly influenced by aggregate demand. Keynes contrasted his approach to the aggregate supply-focused classical economics that preceded his book, the interpretations of Keynes that followed are contentious and several schools of economic thought claim his legacy. Keynesian economists generally argue that, as demand is volatile and unstable. Keynesian economists often advocate a role for government intervention during recessions. The advent of the crisis of 2007–08 caused a resurgence in Keynesian thought. This argument rests upon the assumption that if a surplus of goods or services exists and he saw the economy as unable to maintain itself at full employment and believed that it was necessary for the government to step in and put under-utilized savings to work through government spending. Keynes argued that when a glut occurred, it was the over-reaction of producers, Keynesians therefore advocate an active stabilization policy to reduce the amplitude of the business cycle, which they rank among the most serious of economic problems. According to the theory, government spending can be used to aggregate demand, thus increasing economic activity, reducing unemployment. A principle function of banks in countries which have them is to influence this interest rate through a variety of mechanisms which are collectively called monetary policy. This is how monetary policy which reduces interest rates is thought to stimulate economic activity, i. e. grow the economy, expansionary fiscal policy consists of increasing net public spending, which the government can effect by a) taxing less, b) spending more, or c) both. Investment and consumption by government raises demand for products and for employment. If desired spending exceeds revenue, the government finances the difference by borrowing from capital markets by issuing government bonds, two points are important to note at this point. First, deficits are not required for expansionary fiscal policy, and second, for example, if a government ran a deficit of 10% both last year and this year, this would represent neutral fiscal policy. In fact, if it ran a deficit of 10% last year and 5% this year, this would actually be contractionary. On the other hand, if the government ran a surplus of 10% of GDP last year and 5% this year, the purpose of Keynes theory was to show such conditions could, without intervention, persist in a stable, though dismal, equilibrium. By the end of the Second World War, Keynesianism was the most popular school of economic theory in the non-Communist world. Beginning in the late 1960s, a new classical macroeconomics movement arose, critical of Keynesian assumptions and it was characterized by explicit and rigorous adherence to microfoundations, as well as use of increasingly sophisticated mathematical modelling. During the Great Depression, the classical theory attributed mass unemployment to high, to Keynes, the determination of wages was more complicated

22.
Deputy Prime Minister (Denmark)
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Deputy Prime Minister is an informal description sometimes used, especially by the press, for the minister who is second in the order of precedence. This is the minister who will usually be appointed as acting prime minister when the minister is unavailable. Traditionally the minister of foreign affairs holds the second rank and it is only when the order of precedence deviates from this tradition, that number two is referred to as vicestatsminister. This happens in the case when the leader of the second largest coalition party is not minister of foreign affairs. In some cases the leader of the third largest coalition party and this tradition goes back at least to 1957

23.
Marianne Jelved
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Marianne Bruus Jelved née Hirsbro is a Danish politician, and is educated as a teacher and in the theory of education. She worked as a teacher for 22 years, and has taught teaching for about 10 years. She was elected to the Parliament of Denmark in 1987 for the Social Liberal Party and she was the parliamentary group leader of the Social Liberal Party until 15 June 2007, when she resigned and was replaced by Margrethe Vestager, after a total of 13 years on the post. Since the break-out of the party of Naser Khader to form the party New Alliance and this resignation ended her term as party leader from 1990 until 2007. After the parliamentary election in 2011 resulting in Social Liberal government participation, on 6 December 2012, she replaced Uffe Elbæk as Danish Minister for Culture. CV – Home page of the Parliament of Denmark

24.
Niels Helveg Petersen
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Niels Lolk Helveg Petersen is a Danish politician. He was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 2000, having held the role of Minister for Economic Affairs between 1988 and 1990. He is a former Member of Parliament for the Danish Social Liberal Party 1966–1974, 1977–1993, Niels Helveg Petersen was born in Odense in 1939. His parents were former cabinet minister Kristen Helveg Petersen and former Mayor of Copenhagen Lilly Helveg Petersen and he graduated from the University of Copenhagen in 1965, earning a cand. jur. From 1961 to 1962, he spent a year as a student at Stanford University studying Government. During his years in Copenhagen he was an member of the youth branch of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Niels Helveg Petersen ran for election to the Danish Parliament for the first time in 1964, in 1966, he was elected a Member of Parliament for the first time in the Frederiksborg County. In 1974, he left Denmark to become a servant in the European Commission. He returned to Danish politics in 1977, this time being elected to parliament standing in the Funen constituency and he became leader of the Danish Social Liberal Party in 1978 and kept this role until 1990. During the 1980s, he supported the policies of the Conservative-Liberal government. At the same time, he supported the opposition on other such as security policies. In doing so, his party created majorities without the parties in government, in supporting different sides of parliament, he was sometimes referred to by the Danish media as a king maker, deciding which policies would pass and which would not. The Social Liberals footnote politics ended in 1988 when the party entered the government coalition, in April 2008, Niels Helveg Petersen announced that he was not standing at the next election that took place in September 2011. He was Minister for Economic Affairs in the Cabinet of Poul Schlüter III from 3 June 1988 to 18 December 1990 and he consequently also stepped down as party leader. He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs from 25 January 1993 to 21 December 2000 in the Cabinet of Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I, II, III, and IV. When the European Unions Maastricht Treaty was rejected by the Danish people in 1992, when he left the position of Foreign Minister in 2000, the official reason given was that he could no longer accept the opt-outs. He joined the newly created Council of the Baltic Sea States, which in 1993 successfully established the EuroFaculty in Tartu, Riga, Niels Helveg Petersen is married to Kirsten Lee, who is also a former member of the Danish Parliament for the Social Liberal Party. His son Morten Helveg Petersen was member of the parliament from 11 March 1998 and his son Rasmus Helveg Petersen is a member of parliament since 2011 and Minister for Development Cooperation since 2013

25.
Amsterdam Treaty
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Following the formal signing of the Treaty on 2 October 1997, the Member States engaged in an equally long and complex ratification process. The European Parliament endorsed the treaty on 19 November 1997, the treaty of Amsterdam comprises 13 Protocols,51 Declarations adopted by the Conference, and 8 Declarations by Member States, plus amendments to the existing Treaties set out in 15 Articles. Article 1 amends the provisions of the Treaty on European Union and covers the CFSP and cooperation in criminal. The next four Articles amend the EC Treaty, the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, the Euratom Treaty, the final provisions contain four Articles. The new Treaty also set out to simplify the Community Treaties, deleting more than 56 obsolete articles, by way of example, Article 189b on the codecision procedure became Article 251. The most pressing concerns of ordinary Europeans, such as their legal and personal security, immigration, in particular, the EU became responsible for legislating on immigration, civil law or civil procedure, insofar as this is necessary for the free movement of persons within the EU. At the same time, intergovernmental co-operation was intensified in the police, the Union aims to establish an area of freedom, security and justice for its citizens. The Schengen Agreements have now incorporated into the legal system of the EU. The European Council will lay down common strategies, which then be put into effect by the Council acting by a qualified majority. In other cases, some Member States may choose to abstain constructively and these provisions make the Commission more politically accountable, particularly vis-à-vis the European Parliament. Finally, the new Treaty enables, under strict conditions. The Amsterdam Treaty did not settle all institutional questions, work was still in progress on reforming the institutions to make them capable of operating effectively and democratically in a much enlarged EU. The most pressing issues were the composition of the Commission and the weighting of Member States votes upon qualified majority voting and these questions were addressed in the Treaty of Lisbon

26.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum

27.
Danish euro referendum, 2000
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A referendum on joining the euro was held in Denmark on 28 September 2000. It was rejected by 53. 2% of voters with a turnout of 87. 6%, on 2 June 1992, Danish voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty in a referendum. On 18 May 1993, Denmark ratified a treaty in accordance with the Edinburgh Agreement. This meant that, among three areas, Denmark would not be part of the European Monetary Union. In May 2000 the government tabled the bill, according to the bill, if the outcome of the referendum was in favour of adoption of the euro, Denmark would be able to join the euro area as from 1 January 2002 with the euro as book money. Euro banknotes and coins would be introduced as from 1 January 2004, after which krone banknotes, the largest political parties, including the opposition Liberals and Conservatives, were all in favour entering the EMU. So were the industrial and banking sectors and the majority of labour unions, only one national paper came out against EMU. Five political parties did oppose EMU, two right-wing parties, two left-wing parties and the centre-right Christian People’s Party, however, these parties were all relatively small and represented only 39 of 179 seats in parliament at the time). When the referendum was called, support for the Yes side was just below 50% while the No side was just below 40% according to opinion polls. However, public opinion shifted and from June 2000 until the referendum in September all polls showed 15–20 per cent undecided and this report had a major influence on the debate and undermined the Yes campaigns narrative that EMU was vital for the economy. The euro had dropped 25% in value against the US dollar since its introduction in 1999, the Prime Minister had tried to argue Denmark could unilaterally leave the euro if it chose, but was contradicted by the European Commission, again undermining his credibility. Fears arose about the effect of EMU on the Danish welfare state and pensions. At least some of the vote was simply against the government, which had been in power for eight years by that point and would be swept out of power the following autumn

28.
Danish general election, 2001
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General elections were held in Denmark on 20 November 2001. For the first time since the 1924 elections, the Social Democrats did not win the most seats, the coalition relied on the votes of other right-wing parties such as the Danish Peoples Party, which polled better than ever before. Voter turnout was 87. 1% in Denmark proper,80. 0% in the Faroe Islands and 61. 5% in Greenland, the Venstre led coalition government would last until the 2011 election, lasting through two intermediate elections. Historian Bo Lidegaard said that the vote showed a move away from broad national consensus which had existed since the 1930s regarding the style of governance in Denmark. One of the most important changes that forced the change was the rise of immigration as a political issue and the ensuing rise of the Danish Peoples Party. Immigration played a role in the 2001 campaign and was thrust into focus by the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States

29.
September 11 attacks
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The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and it was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. Suspicion for the attack fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although al-Qaedas leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011. S. many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, on November 18,2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building was opened on November 3,2014. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical, in 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, Muslim legal scholars have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries, according to bin Laden. Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement, in November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi, on December 27,2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, It has become clear that the West in general and it is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, the transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims. He said that the attacks were carried out because, we are free, and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours, Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon

30.
Venstre (Denmark)
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Venstre, full name Venstre, Danmarks Liberale Parti, is a conservative-liberal and agrarian political party in Denmark. Founded as part of a movement against the landed aristocracy. Venstre is the party of the centre-right in Denmark. The party has produced many Prime Ministers, Denmarks current government is a minority government consisting of Venstre alone, supported by the other right wing parties. In the 2015 parliamentary elections, Venstre received 19. 5% of the vote and it is led by Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who took over as party leader and Prime Minister from Anders Fogh Rasmussen when the latter became Secretary General of NATO in 2009. The party is a member of Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals, one of Denmarks thirteen MEPs are from Venstre in the 2014-19 term of office, and they sit with the ALDE Group in the European Parliament. Venstre is categorised as centre-right on the political spectrum and it is a market liberal party within the Nordic agrarian tradition, and today is notably more pro-free market than its sister parties. Some describe it as liberal, since its leader from 1998 to 2009. His book advocated a reform of the Danish welfare state along classical liberal lines, including lower taxes and less government interference in corporate. Since the elections in 2001, Venstre has enacted a tax stop in order to halt the growth in taxes seen during the previous eight years under the Social Democrats. This tax stop has been under fire from the parties on the left wing of Danish politics, allegedly for being asocial. Venstre, or the Left in English, was founded in 1870 under the name Det Forenede Venstre and it was formed through the merger of three parliamentary factions, all of whom had identified as leftist in the context of the time. From 1895 to 1910 it was known as Venstrereformpartiet, and after that simply as Venstre, Venstre was traditionally a party advocating free trade and farmers interests as opposed to the interests of the aristocracy which were the platform of the then conservative party, Højre. This traditional landed basis resulted in a decline in influence due to the rapidly accelerating urbanisation of Danish society. Starting in the 1880s, the party began expanding into urban regions as well, after the 1960s these developments reoriented Venstre from a classical liberal party to conservative liberalism. During the leadership of Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the party turned further to the right, the name has, however, its historical explanation. At the time of its foundation, Venstre affirmed progressive ideas in the then Danish parliament and their opponents, Højre, the forerunner of the present-day Conservative Peoples Party, advocated for established interests, particularly the Church of Denmark and the landed gentry. In current Danish politics there is a distinction between the concepts of Venstre and venstrefløj

31.
Danish People's Party
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The Danish Peoples Party is a political party in Denmark which is generally described as right-wing populist by academics and far-right by international media. It has also described in academia and the media as a nativist. The party was founded in 1995 by Pia Kjærsgaard, who led the party until 2012, the DPP lent its support to the Liberal-Conservative government from the general election of 2001 until the 2011 election defeat. In comparison to its predecessor, the Progress Party, the DPP focus more on immigration, while overall considered part of the radical right, its policies on most economic issues would rather place the party in the centre to centre-left. The partys current leader, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, once declared DPP an anti-Muslim party, in 2014 the party won the European Parliament election in Denmark by a wide margin, securing 27% of the vote. After the election, it joined the European Conservatives and Reformists group alongside parties such as the United Kingdoms Conservative Party and Polands Law and Justice. The Danish Peoples Party was founded on 6 October 1995, after Pia Kjærsgaard, Kristian Thulesen Dahl, Poul Nødgaard and its first national convention was held in Vissenbjerg on 1 June 1996, where Pia Kjærsgaard was unanimously elected as the partys chairman. The party was established in protest over the conditions of the Progress Party. It was initially seen by many as a clone of the Progress Party, the party saw a highly centralized party leadership as necessary, as it would not tolerate internal conflicts and disagreements with the official strategy. In 1997, the party won about 7% in the municipal elections, by 1998, the party had 2,500 registered members. The party made its debut in the 1998 Danish parliamentary election. The party was, however, left no influence in the formation of a government. In the 2001 election, the party won 12% of the vote and 22 seats in parliament and it became the third largest party in the parliament, giving them a key position, as they would have a parliamentary majority together with the Conservative Peoples Party and Venstre. DPP was favoured by these parties, as it had supported the Venstre candidate for Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, during the election campaign. The party had a key role in writing the rules and conditions for immigration in the law that was established by the government in May 2002. In the 2005 election the party increased their vote. By young first-time voters the party showed even more popular, receiving one fifth of their votes, the party continued to support the government, and developed a broader policy base, as it made welfare policies its core issue, together with immigration policies. In 2006, the popularity rose dramatically in opinion polls following the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy

32.
Financial crisis
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A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, currency crises, and sovereign defaults. Financial crises directly result in a loss of wealth but do not necessarily result in significant changes in the real economy. Many economists have offered theories about how financial crises develop and how they could be prevented, There is no consensus, however, and financial crises continue to occur from time to time. When a bank suffers a sudden rush of withdrawals by depositors, an event in which bank runs are widespread is called a systemic banking crisis or banking panic. Examples of bank runs include the run on the Bank of the United States in 1931, Banking crises generally occur after periods of risky lending and resulting loan defaults. There is no accepted definition of a currency crisis, which is normally considered as part of a financial crisis. Frankel and Rose define a crisis as a nominal depreciation of a currency of at least 25%. A speculative bubble exists in the event of large, sustained overpricing of some class of assets, however, it is difficult to predict whether an assets price actually equals its fundamental value, so it is hard to detect bubbles reliably. Some economists insist that bubbles never or almost never occur, the 2000s sparked a real estate bubble where housing prices were increasing significantly as an asset good. When a country fails to pay back its debt, this is called a sovereign default. Several currencies that formed part of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism suffered crises in 1992–93 and were forced to devalue or withdraw from the mechanism, another round of currency crises took place in Asia in 1997–98. Many Latin American countries defaulted on their debt in the early 1980s, the 1998 Russian financial crisis resulted in a devaluation of the ruble and default on Russian government bonds. Negative GDP growth lasting two or more quarters is called a recession, an especially prolonged or severe recession may be called a depression, while a long period of slow but not necessarily negative growth is sometimes called economic stagnation. Some economists argue that many recessions have been caused in part by financial crises. One important example is the Great Depression, which was preceded in many countries by bank runs and stock market crashes. The subprime mortgage crisis and the bursting of real estate bubbles around the world also led to recession in the U. S. It is often observed that successful investment requires each investor in a market to guess what other investors will do

33.
European Commission
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Commissioners swear an oath at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, pledging to respect the treaties and to be completely independent in carrying out their duties during their mandate. The Commission operates as a government, with 28 members of the Commission. There is one member per state, but members are bound by their oath of office to represent the general interest of the EU as a whole rather than their home state. One of the 28 is the Commission President proposed by the European Council, the current Commission is the Juncker Commission, which took office in late 2014. The procedural languages of the Commission are English, French and German, the Members of the Commission and their cabinets are based in the Berlaymont building in Brussels. The first Commission originated in 1951 as the nine-member High Authority under President Jean Monnet, the High Authority was the supranational administrative executive of the new European Coal and Steel Community. It took office first on 10 August 1952 in Luxembourg, in 1958 the Treaties of Rome had established two new communities alongside the ECSC, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. However their executives were called Commissions rather than High Authorities, the reason for the change in name was the new relationship between the executives and the Council. Some states such as France expressed reservations over the power of the High Authority, louis Armand led the first Commission of Euratom. Walter Hallstein led the first Commission of the EEC, holding the first formal meeting on 16 January 1958 at the Château of Val-Duchesse, Hallstein notably began the consolidation of European law and started to have a notable impact on national legislation. The three bodies, collectively named the European Executives, co-existed until 1 July 1967 when, under the Merger Treaty, the Rey Commission completed the Communitys customs union in 1968 and campaigned for a more powerful, elected, European Parliament. Despite Rey being the first President of the communities, Hallstein is seen as the first President of the modern Commission. The Malfatti and Mansholt Commissions followed with work on monetary co-operation, with that enlargement the Commissions membership increased to thirteen under the Ortoli Commission, which dealt with the enlarged community during economic and international instability at that time. Following the Jenkins Commission, Gaston Thorns Commission oversaw the Communitys enlargement to the south, the Commission headed by Jacques Delors was seen as giving the Community a sense of direction and dynamism. Delors and his team are considered as the founding fathers of the euro. The International Herald Tribune noted the work of Delors at the end of his term in 1992. He arrived when Europessimism was at its worst, although he was a little-known former French finance minister, he breathed life and hope into the EC and into the dispirited Brussels Commission. The successor to Delors was Jacques Santer, the entire Santer Commission was forced to resign in 1999 by the Parliament as result of a fraud and corruption scandal, with a central role played by Édith Cresson

34.
Charlie McCreevy
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Charles Charlie McCreevy is a former Irish politician. He was the European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services from 2004–2010 and he was first elected to Dáil Éireann as a Fianna Fáil TD in 1977 and held the seat in Kildare until 2004 when he became Irelands European Commissioner. In successive governments he served as Minister for Social Welfare, Minister for Tourism and Trade, born in Sallins, County Kildare, McCreevy was educated locally at Naas CBS and at the fee paying Gormanston Franciscan College. He studied Commerce at University College Dublin and went on to become a chartered accountant, so his post-compulsory education had to be achieved through winning scholarships. Between 1979 and 1985 he was elected as member of Kildare County Council. In the December 1979 Fianna Fáil leadership contest, McCreevy strongly supported the controversial Charles Haughey who narrowly won the post, however, in a time of severe budgetary difficulties for Ireland, McCreevy soon became disillusioned with the new Taoiseach and his fiscal policies. In October 1982 McCreevy launched a motion of no-confidence in the party leader, in an open ballot and supported by only 21 of his 79 colleagues, the motion failed and McCreevy was temporarily expelled from the parliamentary party. In later years OMalley was expelled from Fianna Fáil itself and formed the Progressive Democrats, for his first 15 years as TD, while Haughey remained leader, McCreevy remained a backbencher. In 1992, Albert Reynolds became Taoiseach and McCreevy was appointed Minister for Social Welfare, in 1993 he became Minister for Tourism and Trade, which he held until the government fell in December 1994. In opposition, and under new Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern, in this role he was viewed as actively pro-enterprise, anti-spending and a key advocate for tax cuts. In 1997, Fianna Fáil returned to power and McCreevy became Minister for Finance, McCreevy was a consistent advocate of cutting taxes and spending. As Minister he had an opportunity to implement these policies and he maintained a significant surplus during his seven years in Finance by forecasting tax takes which were lower than average. He simultaneously implemented a programme, major increases in health. Unemployment fell from 10% to 4. 4%, real GDP growth fell steadily, however, from a peak of over 11% in 1997 when McCreevy took office to just over 4% in 2004. Real GDP growth across the period of the Celtic Tiger represented by far the highest average of any western European country. Inflation was increased from 1. 5% in 1997, to 5. 5% in 2000, from 1997 to 2000, McCreevy cut Capital Gains Tax from 40% to 20%, and extended Section 23 Tax allowances to the Upper Shannon Area in the Finance Acts of 1998 and 1999. These included special tax incentives targeted at the covered by the pilot Rural Renewal Scheme. Frequently outspoken, McCreevy sometimes made comments which attracted controversy, for example, McCreevy once referred to the Irish health system as a black hole and reacted to the initial Irish rejection of the Nice Treaty as a sign of a healthy democracy

35.
Giuliano Amato
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Giuliano Amato OMRI is an Italian politician who twice served as Prime Minister of Italy, first from 1992 to 1993 and again from 2000 to 2001. Later, he was Vice President of the Convention on the Future of Europe that drafted the European Constitution and he is commonly nicknamed dottor Sottile. From 2006 to 2008, he was the Minister of the Interior in Romano Prodis government, on 12 September 2013, President Giorgio Napolitano appointed him to the Constitutional Court of Italy, where he has served since then. Born in Turin into a Sicilian family, Amato grew up in Tuscany, after teaching at the Universities of Modena, Perugia and Florence, he worked as professor of Italian and Comparative Constitutional Law at the University of Rome La Sapienza from 1975 to 1997. Amato began his career in 1958, when he joined the Italian Socialist Party. He was a Member of Parliament from 1983 to 1993 and he was Undersecretary of State to the Prime Ministers office from 1983 to 1987, Deputy Prime Minister from 1987 to 1988, and Minister for the Treasury from 1987 to 1989. From June 1992 to April 1993, Amato served as Prime Minister, during those ten months, a series of corruption scandals rocked Italy and swept away almost an entire class of political leaders. Amato himself was never implicated, notwithstanding how close he was to Bettino Craxi, fearing that the new system would have effectively blocked investigations on political corruption, Italians took to the streets in massive, spontaneous rallies. President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro refused to sign the decree, deeming it blatantly unconstitutional, while his justice minister Giovanni Conso took the blame, it has been disputed whether Amato was a victim of circumstances or whether he really wanted to save the corruption-ridden system. However, this promise was short-lived, Amato has regularly come under criticism for having such a solemn commitment. Amato was nearly nominated for the Presidency of the Republic and was a contender to replace Michel Camdessus as head of the International Monetary Fund. Amato served as Prime Minister again from April 2000 to May 2001 and he promoted economic competitiveness as well as social protection. In addition to reforms, he pushed ahead with political and institutional reforms, trying to deal with a weak executive. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts, Amato was a Member of the Senate representing the constituency of Grosseto in Tuscany from 2001 to 2006. In 2006, he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies for the Olive Tree list, since 2010, he also leads advanced seminar classes at the Master in International Public Affairs of the LUISS School of Government. Amato is married to Ms Diana Amato, a professor of Family Law at the University of Rome and they have two children, Elisa and Lorenzo, and five grandchildren, Giulia, Marco, Simone, Elena and Irene. Giuliano Amato serves as an Honorary Co-Chair for the World Justice Project, the World Justice Project works to lead a global, multidisciplinary effort to strengthen the Rule of Law for the development of communities of opportunity and equity. In 2012 Giuliano Amato was appointed as President of the SantAnna School of Advanced Studies, as alumnus of SantAnna School of Advanced Studies, he guarded close contact with the university, previously heading SantAnna Alumni Association

36.
European Parliament election, 2009 (Denmark)
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The European Parliament election of 2009 in Denmark was the election of the delegation from Denmark to the European Parliament on June 7,2009. The number of Danish MEPs elected was 13, the election was held simultaneously with a referendum on changing the Danish Act of Succession. All Danish parties which were represented in the European Parliament announced they would part in the election. These were the Social Democrats, Venstre, Conservative Peoples Party, June Movement, Socialist Peoples Party, Danish Peoples Party, Social Liberal Party, as in the last election, several electoral coalitions were agreed to before the vote. The Social Democrats sided with the Social Liberal Party and the Socialist Peoples Party, while Venstre teamed up with the Conservative Peoples Party and Liberal Alliance. EU-critics JuniBevægelsen and the Peoples Movement against the EU were also in a coalition, turnout figure includes blank and invalid votes, but these are excluded from the total

37.
Jacques Delors
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Jacques Lucien Jean Delors is a French economist and politician, previously the eighth President of the European Commission and the first person to serve three terms in that office. He is the father of Martine Aubry, the former first secretary of the Socialist Party of France. Born in Paris in a family originating from Corrèze, Delors first held in the 1940s through the 1960s a series of posts in French banking and state planning with the Banque de France. As a member of the French Confederation of Christian Workers, he participated in its secularization, in 1974 Delors joined the French Socialist Party, with other left-wing Christians. He was one of the members of the party to be openly religious, thus challenging its long-standing secular tradition of Laïcité. He served in the European Parliament from 1979 to 1981, becoming chairman of its Committee on Economic, under President François Mitterrand, Delors served as Economics and Finance Minister from 1981 to 1983, and Economics, Finance, and Budget Minister from 1983 to 1984. He advocated a pause in the policies, a clear acceptance of the market economy. Critically, he held the line on Frances membership of the European Monetary System, Mitterrand flirted with the idea of naming him Prime Minister, but never made the appointment. Delors became the President of the European Commission in January 1985, during his presidency, he oversaw important budgetary reforms and laid the groundwork for the introduction of a single market within the European Community, which came into effect on 1 January 1993. In the autumn of 1988 Delors addressed the British Trade Union Congress, after 1988 it was to be the Conservatives who were divided, with Thatcher and her supporters opposed to further European integration. The article called Delors the Froggie Common Market chief, Delors has a longstanding interest in education. In 1994, members of the French Socialist Party attempted to persuade Delors to run for President of France, polls showed that he would have a very good chance of defeating either of the main conservative contenders – Prime Minister Édouard Balladur and Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac. However Delors declined to run and the eventual Socialist nominee, Lionel Jospin, was defeated in the 1995 presidential election by Chirac. In 1995 he won the Charles V Prize, awarded by the Fundación Academia Europea de Yuste Delors founded the Paris-based, centre-left think tank Notre Europe in 1996 and remains one of its presidents. He is president of the Conseil de lemploi, des revenus et de la cohésion sociale, on 15 September 2010 Delors supported the new initiative Spinelli Group, which was founded to reinvigorate the strive for federalisation of the European Union. Other prominent supporters include Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Guy Verhofstadt, Sylvie Goulard, Andrew Duff, in 2010, Delors was the first to be honored with the Leonardo European Corporate Learning Award. In 1990 he received the Freedom medal, Delors is the father of Socialist politician Martine Aubry. In 2012, Delors stated in the Handelsblatt newspaper that If the British cannot support the trend towards integration in Europe, we can nevertheless remain friends